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[T600]

ok, so I stopped playing DF about 6 months ago and I am trying to get back in it, but I really like making very specific fortresses. I hate making the same old fortress with a brook and metal smithing area and blah blah. Currently I want to make a fortress that relies on animals for food and animals for war pets and such. and.. WATER! No magma. I have yet to see magma in any of my games but I know that I hate it.

I prefer to use water for creative things, all though I have never gotten very creative with it.

So, how would I go about making a fort like this? Lots of animals and lots of water. I really don't like using farms either but they seem wayyy to effective to skimp out on. SO any ideas?

[ISGC]

you should start off with a few starting animal pairs (bull + cow, ect.)

[T600]

you should start off with a few starting animal pairs (bull + cow, ect.)

well how effective are animals in general? Can you only train war dogs? I would like to have some war bulls, that sounds cool. Also how long does it take for a baby animal to mature? because animals may also be my prime source of food, and if they take forever to mature that could be a problem.

[ISGC]

you should start off with a few starting animal pairs (bull + cow, ect.)

well how effective are animals in general? Can you only train war dogs? I would like to have some war bulls, that sounds cool. Also how long does it take for a baby animal to mature? because animals may also be my prime source of food, and if they take forever to mature that could be a problem.

there are a few new trainables, but I don't believe they are immediately available (things like bears or giant eagles or something), though you can easily mod it otherwise.  I don't know for sure, but it is most likely varying between species.  I've noticed goats  tend to mature pretty quickly, I don't know.

[T600]

you should start off with a few starting animal pairs (bull + cow, ect.)

well how effective are animals in general? Can you only train war dogs? I would like to have some war bulls, that sounds cool. Also how long does it take for a baby animal to mature? because animals may also be my prime source of food, and if they take forever to mature that could be a problem.

there are a few new trainables, but I don't believe they are immediately available (things like bears or giant eagles or something), though you can easily mod it otherwise.  I don't know for sure, but it is most likely varying between species.  I've noticed goats  tend to mature pretty quickly, I don't know.

ok thanks, so skimping out on farming is probably not suggested right? I hate farming.. I like tailoring my fortress to a specific aspect and farming just does not do it for me. It seems very static I guess. Like once you get a farm up and running it will never fail if nothing bad happens.

Like I can count on my farm being there the next season most of the time because plump helmets give seeds to make more plump helmets

[ISGC]

perhaps you could make small farms so that it will feed you for the firt few waves of migrants, while you grow up your farms to a stable population

[Kidiri]

As soon as you've got a decent supply of animals (say, two or three breeding pairs) you'll hardly ever get into trouble concerning food. When butchered, the game now takes into account the size of the creature. And not only does it provide meat and tallow, the intestines get prepared too. Example: a whale in 40d produced 16 meat and 20 fat, a total of 36 food, if you don't have a soap industry going. Nowadays, in DF2010, it can produce 550-750 units of meat. Just meat, then there're the prepared intestines, other organs and fat. All in all, one whale can produce (I used all of the minimum values from the wiki) an astounding 1125 units of food. Or more than 30 times as much as in 40d. But then again, these are whales. Massively large whales. At the moment I'm butchering some spare grizzlies (I'm going to genetically engineer to only have gigantic, muscular grizzlies -which will yield more food and be a better defence) and the last one gave me 37 pieces of food. This versus the measly 9 it used to give in 40d...

[Mephansteras]

Also, cows are now milkable so a working dairy ranch is a viable option. Keep the best Bull for breeding and slaughter the rest while keeping the females for milk.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Also in .31.xx, you're guaranteed magma.

[monk12]

I myself have been running farm-free. In addition to cows, you can also milk horses, mules, and donkeys. I believe cows are better eats when butchered, but horses/donkeys/mules are more point efficient on embark. Also, milk only costs 1 point, making it a cheap source of cheese. Have a dwarf with plant gathering enabled to scrounge for berries to turn into booze, and trade for what else you need.

As far as the War Menagerie goes, there are several new war-trainable animals including (but not limited to) grizzly bears, polar bears, giant eagles, elephants, and tigers. I recommend embarking by a tropical river, since elephants are tameable without a dungeonmaster, and make sure the elves can make it to your settlement.

[Nihilist]

Also in .31.xx, you're guaranteed magma.

And if you do indeed hate magma - you can turn the layer off in world gen. However the magma layer is required for the true HFS.

[T600]

I myself have been running farm-free. In addition to cows, you can also milk horses, mules, and donkeys. I believe cows are better eats when butchered, but horses/donkeys/mules are more point efficient on embark. Also, milk only costs 1 point, making it a cheap source of cheese. Have a dwarf with plant gathering enabled to scrounge for berries to turn into booze, and trade for what else you need.

As far as the War Menagerie goes, there are several new war-trainable animals including (but not limited to) grizzly bears, polar bears, giant eagles, elephants, and tigers. I recommend embarking by a tropical river, since elephants are tameable without a dungeonmaster, and make sure the elves can make it to your settlement.

hmm.. how effective is berry scrounging and what should I embark with? The embark system is now hella complicated and very.. "min-maxy" like selling your axes and picks and just buying the mats to make them at the embark and etc.. I miss the old embark set up. Sell 1 axe and just buy w/e and press e!

Now its a lot more.. complicated. Also I should embark with horses and not cows right?

[Slayer]

Make waterfalls at the entrance of your fortress. Use the water flowing upwards as a power source, as such:

Code: [Select]

Z1   Z2
0000000000
WWW%%WWW%%
0GAG00GAG0
Where:
0 = Top of wall
W = Waterwheel
% = Pump
G = Gear
A = Axle
This way you can pump it as high as you want, though requiring more space in comparison to pump stacks.

Also consider the following:
Building a statue garden where the sun can shine and an artificial creek flows.

[Raphite1]

Also I should embark with horses and not cows right?

    If you're going to focus on animal products for food, then bring both! Your dwarves will appreciate the variety. I can't think of any specific reason to prefer horses over cows. Cows actually used to be more valuable in 40d, but I'm not sure if that's the case anymore.

    As long as you embark with plenty of female animals and a good stock of food and booze to get you started, you can definitely have a meat-based fort. The only issue will be booze, but some skilled herbalists may be able to support your fort's booze production with gathered plants, assuming you're in a plant-heavy biome.

[Acanthus117]

Also, you can adjust the amount of embark points (how much stuff you can buy) in worldgen settings, so you can make it easier for you and such.